Fraternizing
by Fyrnoir137
Summary: War is brewing and Draco knows this is no time to be falling in love, especially with someone like her, but the damage was already done. Can he convince her that he has changed, and can she help stop him from making the biggest mistake of his life? Dramione, Starts in 6th year, goes through 7th.
1. Prologue

Description: War is brewing and Draco knows this is no time to be falling in love, especially with someone like her, but the damage was already done, can he convince her that he had changed, and can she help stop him from making the biggest mistake of his life? Dramione, Starts in 6th year, goes through 7th.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, all rights to the fabulous and amazing J.

**Prologue**

Draco didn't know when it could have happened, he had never felt this way about her before, or at least he didn't _think_ he had. He knew for a fact he didn't feel this way in first or second year, back then he had always seen her as just a ugly filthy little know-it-all mudblood. He had to admit, that he had kept an eye on her, but surely that was just because she hung around with Potter. It couldn't have happened third year, although he certainly couldn't have called her ugly anymore, she was still a mudblood, and too smart for her own good. But then she punched him that spring, and he honestly thought he was going to die, he had been touched by a mudblood. That was the first time he learned not to trust everything his father had taught him.

Fourth year was different, it was the triwizard tournament, and everything changed. She was dating that knucklehead from Durmstrang, and more than once when he would see them together, he would feel something deep inside that he thought resembled jealousy. but that couldn't be it, he hated her, it was just disgust, or so he told himself. He kept telling himself that until the night of the Yule Ball. She had cleaned up nice, for a mudblood. His date was Pansy Parkinson, but she ended up leaving early because Draco wouldn't dance with her. It took everything he had not to stare all night. The next morning he convinced himself it was a fluke, she had cast some spell that made everyone pay attention to her, he certainly wasn't the only one watching her that night. He was back to hating her right away.

Fifth year provided a well needed distraction in the form of Delores Umbrige, and her inquisitorial squad. Draco hadnt wanted to be part of it at first. But when his father heard about it, he decided it would be a good extracurricular activity for him- something to challenge him in a way quittage couldn't- and Draco had agreed. Everything was going fine, and he never thought about the not so ugly, no longer insufferably brainy, cant-kill-you-with-a-touch, mudblood. That is, until the day they caught the D.A. That day when they broke into the room of requirement, she was there, and there was this look on her face, it was pure terror, and maybe just a bit of anger, and something about it made him feel guilty. He tried his best to ignore it, but the guilt was unbearable. for the rest of the year, he was avoided her, and all her friends.

But now, here he was, the beginning of sixth year. He couldn't ignore it anymore, he couldn't wait any longer. He didn't know when it had happened, or why, or even how, but it had. Draco Malfoy had fallen in love with Hermione Granger.

**A/N: Hey, thanks for reading! I hope you like it so far, I just want to inform you that this is actually my first ever fic, so please please please review and tell me what you think! Also title ideas please would be great!**


	2. Chapter 1

**Hello again readers, I have another installment for you. just to clarify, I kinda skipped the very beginning of the school year, didn't see a point in having it there, everything is just cannon at that point, so this actually starts with that night when Ron first starts dating Lavender, after the quittage match where Harry pretended to give Ron liquid luck. I think it's about mid October, so you didn't miss much. Enjoy**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling is the most wonderful-est person in the world and the only thing that I would have changed in her place would be making Dramione cannon.

**Chapter one**

Hermione had just entered the common room and seen everyone cheering. All around her the red and gold clad students were roaring for the quittage team and their perfect game. But many of them were cheering for one person in particular, the Gryffindor Keeper, Ron Weasley.

Hermione was happy for the Gryffindor win. Honest. Especially considering the match had been against Slytheren. But she knew it was wrong, because that morning, Harry had poured some Felix - better known as liquid luck - into Ron's pumpkin juice. So now, when she saw Harry at the back of the crowd she confronted him.

"You know how stupid that was, don't you?" she hissed at him under her breath. "Why did you slip it in his drink?"

"What?" he replied calmly, "You mean this?" he flashed the full bottle quickly before hiding back in his pocket.

"You didn't actually use it, Ron only thought you did."

He nodded yes. That made her feel a lot better, just knowing her friends hadn't cheated.

But suddenly the crowd was quieting, they both looked up from their conversation to see Ron snogging Lavender Brown. Then everyone was cheering again, everyone expect Hermione.

Hermione wanted to die, or at the very least cry until she had no more tears, then keep crying anyway. She ran out of the room, head in her hands. She didn't know where she was going but she just kept running away. At first Harry followed her, but she sent him back. She didn't want to talk right now, she just couldn't. She had had a crush on Ron for a while now, but hadn't said anything to him about it. Now she wished she had.

When she finally stopped running, she found herself in an abandoned 7th floor corridor. She decided it was as good a place as any to sit and cry. She didn't know how long she was there for, it didn't seem like a terribly long time, but she couldn't be sure. But then suddenly she heard the soft creaking of a door, and lifted her head. She wasn't sure exactly where in the castle she was, but she hadn't seen any doors about when she had run through, then again, she hadn't really been looking.

She looked to see if there was anyone around; but saw nothing. She rested her head in her hands to resume crying when she heard a voice.

"Granger?"

**Ooh cliff hanger! Who do you think it is? Hope you like the story so far, I do. I can't wait to get to the good stuff. I'll try to update soon, but no guaranties. I know this ones really short but don't worry the next one is MUCH longer. For now please review!**


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: Here you go, chapter two. thanks to my first and currently only reviewer Leelee909, I will try to take that into consideration starting now. **

Disclaimer: If I did own any part of Harry Potter, that would be awesome, unfortunately I don't.

Chapter two

Draco sat in the room of requirement fiddling with the vanishing cabinet. He had tried what seemed like a thousand spells to fix it tonight alone. Under normal circumstances he would have given up a month ago, but this was different. He had to make it work.

Draco had been given a mission over the summer by the Dark Lord. After Lucius's failure last year, it was supposed to be some sort of redemption, but Draco knew what it really was. It was a suicide mission, and it was their punishment. But he knew he had to do this. If he failed he and all his family would be killed. He couldn't let that happen. Draco had been promised that if he could do it, they would be greatly rewarded. He would be a hero and his family would be put back on the high pedestal they had fallen from. It was all he had ever wanted, he would be so well respected, and everything would go back to just the way it had been. It should have been an honor, except, Draco didn't want that anymore.

Wait a minute, what was he thinking, of course that's what he wanted, wasn't it? That's what he had always dreamed of. But now suddenly, it didn't seem like a very good dream to have. Anything that didn't involve her didn't seem quite worth it anymore. He shook it off.

"You're just nervous" he told himself, "Get a grip, before you do something stupid."

He had been working for nearly 2 months now and had nothing to show of it but a girl in the hospital and a slightly less dusty cabinet. The cabinet wouldn't even send anything yet, so he had no idea how he was going to make it work, but if he didn't want him and his whole family to die, it would have to.

He looked at his watch, he had plenty of time till curfew, but he didn't want to get caught. Again. A few weeks ago he had thought that he was on to something, and forgot to give himself plenty of time to get back to his common room, he was lucky it had been Snape who had found him and he didn't get anything other than a strict order to go to bed immediately. In fact, it had been that incident that had inspired him to take a break from the cabinet for a while and try a different approach with the necklace. Now that he thought on it, his luck lately had been pretty bad and today he might not be so fortunate.

After he had covered the cabinet with a tarp to keep it hidden while he was gone, he left the room of requirement and began the long walk back to the dungeons. It wasn't long however before he heard someone crying in the corridor behind him. Normally he would have just scoffed at them and kept walking, but something inside him told him to go and see what was wrong.

When he arrived he saw a girl on the floor crying into her sleeves which were pulled over her hands. He knew immediately who it was.

"Granger?" He used her last name, but it suddenly felt like that had been the wrong thing to do. Her head snapped up immediately and she scowled and quickly wiped her tears when she saw who it was.

"What do you want Malfoy?" she spat; she wasn't in the mood for games.

"I... I was just…" he glanced back at where the door to the Room of Requirement had already faded away. "I heard you crying." It was the truth.

"So you've come to add insult to injury have you, or maybe injury to insult?" She started to stand not wanting to stick around longer than she had to. If Malfoy was here it would just make her situation even worse. She had already been betrayed by Ron, she didn't need to add Malfoy's torments to her list of problems.

_Actually I came to see if you were okay. _He thought to himself, _but if I told you that you wouldn't believe me. _"No, I just heard you, and…" he struggled to find the words he wanted to say, but noticed tears were starting to form in her eyes again. "Why are you crying, Granger?"

"Why do you care Malfoy? Just leave me alone" she started to walk away but he grabbed her arm and turned her back towards him.

"Just tell me." His voice was soft, and lacked his usual snark. When he didn't release her, she pulled her arm out of his grasp and took a step back. At first she honestly thought it was all just one of his games, he was playing with her, he only wanted to know so he could tease her about it publicly. But then she looked at his eyes. Somehow, his cold gray eyes looked softer than usual, and she wondered if maybe he actually cared. But then she remembered who she was looking at. This was Draco Malfoy. He didn't care about her. He couldn't.

"No." she turned and started walking away again, but this time, he let her.

She walked all the way back to the common room before she remembered why she left in the first place. Ron and Lavender. She entered cautiously and noticed they were both gone. _Probably off snogging somewhere more private. _She thought to herself as she made her way up to the 6th year girl's dorm. _All the better, now I don't have to see either of them again till tomorrow. _As she got ready for bed she realized something, for that short time she was talking to Malfoy, he really had looked sincere, as if he actually cared. _But why would he care about me? To him, I'm just a filthy mudblood. _

**A/N: Well, it's a bit longer. I really hope you liked it. I want to warn you that it might be a while till I get another chapter up, because I haven't even finished writing it yet, and I'm going on a tech-less vacation later this week. Remember to review, please! I don't know what you think of it if you don't review. Even if you just write one word, I'd love some feedback. **


	4. Chapter 3

**Hello again! Quick thank you to my reviewers, and reminder to please review and tell me what you think, otherwise, here we go!**  
**Disclaimer: I own everything! Yeah right I wish. But no, really, all rights to J.K. Rowling.**

**Chapter three**

The next few days passed in relative normality. If by normal you mean Hermione spending a lot of time alone in the library and avoiding Ron who was rarely seen without Lavender Brown. She didn't even see Harry much, because all he wanted to do was read that silly potions book, and talk about how Malfoy was a death-eater.

Speaking of Malfoy, Hermione had barely seen him since their… encounter… on Saturday. She noticed that he was skipping some of his classes, and she hadn't seen him in the great hall for meals. Harry would say he was probably off doing death-eater stuff, but Hermione didn't think so. Not that she missed the insults and teasing, but she wondered if maybe she had hurt his feelings and now he was specifically avoiding her.  
But wait, this is Malfoy she was talking about, he didn't have feelings. Anyway, she didn't do anything she hadn't done a thousand times over in previous years. On the other hand, she had noticed that although she hadn't done anything differently, Malfoy had been unusually distant all year so far. He had definitely been acting strangely that night. And on top of that, he hadn't even called her 'mudblood'. Yes, something was definitely different with Malfoy. But the question was, why?  
…

Draco had been skipping classes and meals, that much was true. But it wasn't Hermione's fault. Not entirely at least. In truth, he had received a letter from his mother and his aunt Bellatrix. They had news from the Dark Lord; he was getting impatient. So now Draco was spending all his time working on the cabinet, and even skipping a few classes and meals so he knew no one would be around.  
He tried every spell he could think of a thousand times. He had thought a simple reparo would do the trick, but it didn't. He even tried a few spells normally used to fix people, like episke. Not that it made any difference. He was no closer to repairing it than he had been a month ago. And on top of all that, there was Hermione.

It wasn't fair. It wasn't like he wanted to be in love with her. There was just something about her that made his heart flutter. He knew full well it wasn't appropriate for someone of his social status to love someone like her, so why did he? He could have any pure-blooded girl he wanted, as long as her family supported the Dark Lord. But instead he found himself wanting her.  
His family could never find out he loved her. They would kill him, or more likely, force him to kill her. But he could never do that. He knew that much for sure. He would never let anything hurt her, and he would die to save her.

**Wow, another short chapter. Really sorry guys, but I wanted to get something up before I go back to school next week. But we did get some important information in there. The next one will be very fun. :) and much longer, I promise. Oh and they might start to get less frequent now. I really hope you're enjoying this, but I honestly have no idea what you guys think because I have so few reviews. If I could get 3 more before I post the next chapter that would be great! Thanks so much!**


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N:Hello! So I actually managed to get this up a lot sooner than I through I would. And it's a decent length. Hurray! quick thank you to my rewiewers, lets try for 3 more reviews for the next one. Anyway, please R&R. hope you like it. **

**Disclaimer: believe it or not I don't know HP. shocking right? **

**Chapter four:**

It was Friday when Hermione and Malfoy spoke again. And it was more of a confrontation than a conversation. Potions class had just ended, and Hermione – who had been sitting by the door as far away from Ron and Lavender as she could get – was the first one to leave. She was halfway out the door when suddenly she bumped into someone trying to get out of the classroom quickly.

"Hey, watch where you're going." The student said. He must've known it was partially his own fault, as he had been staring at the ground but he was annoyed, and in a hurry. When he glanced up to see who had run into him, he seemed shocked.

"Granger." He said quickly stepping out of the way of the many others now filing out of the classroom. She hadn't really seen him since the night in the corridor. It looked like he wanted to say something to her now, but couldn't find the words, and all that came out was, "I… um...Uh… what …"

"What do you want Malfoy?" she was standing next to him now, off to the side of the hallway.

"You've been avoiding me, ever since Saturday when…" he trailed off. Neither of them really knew what had happened Saturday, and he didn't want to say the wrong thing.

"If you haven't noticed Malfoy, I don't like you, in fact, I hate you. So yes, I have been avoiding you, for over 5 years now." She spoke quickly, but quietly. Not wanting to be overheard talking to Malfoy.

"but-" he started, but was interrupted by Ron and Harry finally escaping the potions classroom after being held back by Professor Slughorn to talk about Harry's most recent achievements, and a possible tutoring opportunity for Ron.

"This guy bothering you Hermione?" it was Ron who spoke up, witch annoyed Hermione. He had no right to defend her.

"Why? You jealous Weasel-bee?" Malfoy shot back, regressing to his usual snobbish retorts now he was no longer alone with Hermione.

"Shove-off Malfoy" This time it was Harry's turn to speak.

"Actually, I was just leaving." With that, he turned and walked away, resisting the urge to look back at Hermione one more time, and leaving the three of them alone.

"What was that all about?" Ron wasn't really talking to Hermione, and it was probably a rhetorical question, but she took it as an opportunity to throw it all back in his face.

"Why should you care?! You've barely talked to me for a week!" It came out meaner than she'd meant it to. But right now she didn't care.

"Well because I thought you were my friend, for starters, and I don't like the idea of my friends hanging around with people like Malfoy!" he responded just as violently.

"You don't get to tell me who I can and can't hang out with! Not that it matters, I was just telling him to stay away from me!" she didn't know what it had turned into a yelling match but that's certainly what it was. She was glad there were no teachers around.

"I don't care what you guys were talking about! I just don't want to lose you!"

That was it then. Hermione just stood there open mouthed at what he had just said, and eventually responded softly but with no less bitterness, "You don't want to lose me? Well maybe you should have thought of that before you started dating Lavender Brown."

"Is that what this is about?" Ron was no longer shouting, but that didn't mean he was any less mad. "You don't approve of me and Lavender? Well you know what? It doesn't matter. You don't get to tell me who I can and can't date!"

"And you don't get to tell me who I can and can't hang out with!" The yelling had begun again. "Where is your little **girlfriend** anyway? Didn't she bother to wait for you?"

"As a matter of fact, **I told her** she could make her way to dinner without me because I didn't know how long the meeting with Slughorn would be!"

"Well I guess it's over now, so you can go be with her now!"

"Fine"

"Fine"

"I'm outa here" Ron said as he stormed off to the great hall for dinner. Leaving Hermione to release the tears she had been so desperately holding back.

Harry had been watching the whole thing, and, unsure of how he could help, had just stayed out of the way. But now he walked over to her and pulled her into a hug. For a moment she accepted before pulling away and wiping her face. Wordlessly they agreed to head up to the great hall for dinner.

He didn't like it when his too best friends fought. But he hoped that soon they would make up, and everything would be okay again. Everyone could see how much they cared for each other, and they had for years. Lavender Brown was just another little bump in the road, just like Krum had been. But some day, he had faith that they would be together.

As he and Hermione made their way to the great hall he tried not to let her realize he knew that she was still crying.

**A/N: Ha ha, this was fun. I knew it would be. :) Hermione and Ron in a yelling match about Draco that turns into a yelling match about lavender. For those of you that are waiting for the Dramione moments, there should be a big one in the next chapter. I will admit this is kind of turning into a love triangle fic (Romione and Dramione), but don't worry, it's gonna very very very dramione centered and there is absolutely NO Harry/Hermione. They are just friends. **


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N: hey, sorry it's been a while. I've been busy. but here it is. chapter 5**

**Chapter five:**

Hermione wasn't exactly surprised when Harry walked all the way to the great hall with her, only to go sit with Ron and Lavender. She assumed he wanted her to sit with them, but that definitely wasn't happening, so she went a bit farther down the table and sat next to Ginny and Dean. They didn't seem to mind. In fact, Dean was busy having a conversation with Seamus, and Ginny was more than happy to discuss with Hermione how much of a git Ron was, even though she did most of the talking.

Meanwhile, Hermione was a little busy thinking about the encounter in the corridor with Malfoy. Wait, there were two encounters now, and oddly enough, he had been uncharacteristically nice to her both times. No, nice wasn't the right word. He still said the mean things, but the venom was gone, the hate was missing from his eyes. He was sitting at the Slytheren table across the room. His "friends" were all around him, but he was ignoring them. He was staring off into space. What could he be thinking about?

"Hermione? Hello?" Hermione came crashing back to reality when Ginny shoved her shoulder to get her attention. "Hello, earth to 'Mione, anybody home?"

"Hmm? Sorry Gin, what is it?" she quickly turned to see her friend giving her a frustrated look.

"You haven't heard a thing I've said have you?" she tried to sound annoyed, but it came out with a bit of a laugh.

"No, sorry?"

"Oh, well, I was just talking about Ron. I mean look at him! He's not even eating; he's too busy sucking her face, think about it. My brother not eating. When have you ever seen him not eat? It's like - Hermione what ARE you looking at? Ron is that way." She pointed down the table.

Hermione didn't realize she was staring at the other side of the room again. "Oh, nothing." She pulled her eyes away from the Slytheren table. "I was just … thinking…"

"Oh? What were you thinking about? 'Cause you know I was thinking-"

Hermione didn't get to hear what she was about to say, because just then on the other side of the room Malfoy quickly stood and hurried out of the hall. She wouldn't have noticed if she hadn't been staring at him, in fact, she's sure that no one except her and his friends really noticed. Acting on a whim, she too quickly got up and started to leave.

"Oi, Hermione, where you off to in such a hurry?" It was Harry. Why was it he never wanted to talk until it was a bad time for her? She didn't need to think to long however to come up with a convincing story.

"I'm… going to the library." Yes that was definitely believable. "I wanted to look something up for Ancient Runes."

"Oh, okay. Have fun." She didn't stick around to let him say anything else, or worse, for Ron to say something. Instead, she just hurried out of the hall and started to search for Malfoy.

She got lucky and saw him on the grand staircase. He was already on the 3rd floor. Where could he possibly be going? She quickly took off after him, barley avoiding running into a couple of 2nd year Ravenclaw girls slowly making their way down to the hall. She followed Malfoy a few floors away, all the way up to the 7th floor, when he suddenly turned and entered a corridor. She didn't want to lose him, so she sped up, practically running up the stairs.

She didn't have a hard time following him through the corridor. He seemed extremely cautious and nervous. He took what seemed to be an tremendously overly complicate route, possibly trying to throw off anyone who might be wandering the halls, but oddly enough, he didn't bother looking to see if anyone was following him until he reached his destination. Hermione barely had time to run back around the corner before he turned at looked straight at where she had been, and disappeared into a room.

It was only when she approached the wall he had seemingly disappeared into when she realized where he had been going. This was the room of requirement. But what would Malfoy need from the room of requirement? Against her better judgment she decided to follow him in.

"I need to follow Malfoy, I need to follow Malfoy, I need to follow Malfoy" she repeated as she paced in front of the wall. Surprisingly, a door appeared and Hermione, always a curious girl, entered.

**A/N: I KNOW! I promised dramione! but, I wanted to get something posted, and this is what I could get done, so NEXT chapter for sure, and if it doesn't happen then, well, then I fail as a writer. I hope you liked it anyway, please review. reviews make me want to continue writing, annnd they make make me fell successful as a person. :) thanks. 'till next time. **


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hello again! I don't want to waste time here, so just a quick thank you to my reviewers, especially to FivePhoenix who left 6 reviews in one day, one for each chapter! Hope you all enjoy!**

**Chapter six:**

_"I need to follow Malfoy, I need to follow Malfoy, I need to follow Malfoy" she repeated as she paced in front of the wall. Surprisingly, a door appeared and Hermione, always a curious girl, entered._

"Stupid cabinet!" Draco yelled throwing a small green apple on the ground. "Damn it!" He sank to the ground and leaned back hitting his head on the cabinet behind him. "Ouch." He said rubbing the back of his head with is hand. He sulked for a few seconds more until he heard the sound of a door quietly squeaking closed.

"Who's there?!" He shouted and jumped up pulling out his wand. When no one showed themself he lowered it, thinking maybe he was just hearing things. Or maybe he was going crazy. Or maybe someone followed him. No. He had been extremely careful to make sure that he didn't pass through the corridors that people were likely to be using. Unless someone followed him all the way from the great hall; he hadn't looked to see if anyone had gotten up when he left.

"Hello?" He said louder, straining to hear a reply that would tell him who this was. But when, after a few seconds, he didn't hear anything, he went back to work on the cabinet. Unfortunately, he wasn't paying enough attention to hear someone sneak up behind him.

"What are you doing here?" It was an angry voice, and sounded feminine, he knew this voice, and it certainly wasn't who he expected.

"Granger, what are you doing here?" He turned to see her standing just a foot away from him, her wand pointed at his chest.

"I asked you first, what do you need from the room of requirement?"

She looked mad. But more than that, she looked upset. Perhaps it had something to do with Weasel-bee. He had heard her and him arguing earlier today about that Lavender girl. Not that he was eavesdropping, but they had been yelling, and they hadn't exactly waited for him to be out of earshot. Now that he thought about it, he had seen the Weasel snogging some girl - probably Lavender - for a week now, and it had all started that day he found Hermione crying in the corridor.

"You like him, don't you?" He blurted out. As soon as he did he regretted it.

"What! What are you talking about?" He saw her turn bright red. She was a smart girl, too smart not to know exactly what he was taking about and realize that he had figured it out. She would have seen the wheels turning in his head. "I - I asked you a question! Now are you going to tell me what you're doing here or am I-"

Draco didn't hear the rest of what she said. He assumed it was a threat, but he just couldn't focus on what she was saying. He was looking at her eyes. They were the most beautiful chocolate brown. He normally didn't like brown for eyes. He found it dull and common, but on Hermione it was the most beautiful color he had ever seen.

Draco didn't know what came over him, but one second he was staring into her eyes and the next his lips were on hers and he was kissing her. It was a quick light kiss; over just as suddenly as it had begun and finished before either could even comprehend what had happened. OH GOD! He had kissed her! What the hell was he thinking!? Why would he do that? What on earth was wrong with him!

She just stared at him, confused and surprised. "Believe me," he said honestly, "I'm just as shocked as you are."

The next thing he knew she had slapped him.

"Wow, I had forgotten how good you were at that." he mumbled to himself rubbing his cheek. He couldn't help but think of 3rd year, when she had slapped him the first time. Yes, those where the good old days, before all this grown-up death eater shit, and before Draco had to worry about hiding his feelings about Hermione. "What were you saying?" he was trying to get her off the topic of the kiss, but then remembered that the previous topic had been just as touchy. "Er, I mean…"

"You're an idiot." was her only response.

He thought she was going to walk away. To leave him standing there alone, but she didn't. They both waited there idle for a few seconds before it became awkward. Hermione finally spoke first.

"Um, since we're just standing around here, there was, uh, something I wanted to ask you." It was all broken up, as if she was trying to make up her mind about what exactly she wanted to say. Was this why she had followed him up here? Just to ask a question? Wait, hadn't she just been furious at him? Now what was this?

"Yes?" he responded slowly, trying to prompt her into saying what was on her mind.

"Umm, earlier today, outside potions, you asked Ron if he was jealous of me talking to you."

"Yeah…" he knew what she was talking about, but now he was really curious; just what did she want from him?

"Well, why would he be?" she started to gain confidence in her speech finally, "He's got his girlfriend Lavender. And anyway, it's not like there's actually anything between him and I."

So this was it. Of course he knew that Hermione liked the Weasel, no matter how much she denied it. But **he** couldn't deny how much he wished she would just forget about him.

"Well, he deserves to be jealous. He's the one that chose that Lavender girl over you. "

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I mean, he made his choice, and in the end, it was her, and he's an idiot for that, because why would anyone chose…" his voice trailed off at the end. He was unsure of how to word his response after that without saying anything he'll regret.

Luckily for him, he didn't have too, because just then Hermione cut the conversation off. She claimed it was because she had homework to get started on, but Draco thought it was more likely that the conversation was becoming too awkward for her. How often do you have a civil conversation about your crush with your rival, who in turn may or may not have a crush on you?

"Hey Hermione?" he called back at her as she started walking back to the door.

"Yeah?" she turned halfway around to hear what he had to say.

"If it's any consolation, he made the wrong choice." They both smiled a little at that, and she started walking again towards the door.

"Hermione?" he whispered it this time, and she didn't seem to hear him though, she was too far away. "I love you." He finished, confident that she wouldn't hear. A second later he heard the door creak shut and returned to his work on the cabinet.

Hermione was walking out as she heard him call her name a second time. She chose not to turn around and found that now it was her turn to eavesdrop on him. "I love you." She heard him say. Now confused, shocked and a little bit scared, she quick ran out of the room closing the door behind her with a tiny creak.

**A/N: I have just a few things I want to say quickly. Firstly, I don't know where the kiss came from. I was just writing and it kind just came out. That's the main resin this wasn't posted three weeks ago. I originally meant for this to be part of chapter 5, the interesting part actually, and most of it was actually written right after chapter 5 thanks to the inspiration I got from so many reviews, but then I got to that kiss and I just got stuck. Sorry. But I think I made it work. **

**Next up: the bad news, which is also good news, and another reason I took so long to post this: I am in a play for my school, and have rehearsal like every night, I tried to make it work, but it didn't, so I will be going on temporary hiatus until the show is done in mid-December. **

**That is all, that you so much, I hope I'm not letting you down, and I hope you'll all come back and read my story again in December. Until then, I hope you liked it, and please review.**


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